Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunday Sweets: Like Buttah

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Buttercream icing, that is.

Yep, here's another fondant-free installment for you purists out there. I've got nothing against fondant per se, but I do agree that all-icing decorations are much yummier. Besides, it's nice to see what cake artists can come up with when they're limited to non-fondant options.

First up, Alison B. of Town Lake Cakes certainly knows where the wild things are:

Alison, will you tell us your secret to drawing such perfect characters? I'm guessing you used either a stencil or possibly hand-drawn chocolate transfers - am I close? Of course, whatever you used, I love the result.

Speaking of love, I am gaga for the bright colors and glass-smooth icing on this Abby Cadabby cake Shelly M. got for her daughter's birthday:

Isn't it adorable? And you'd really never know it wasn't fondant, the lines are so clean. The bakers over at The Cake Stand in McKinney, Texas clearly have some mad skilz.

You know how we're always getting down on grocery-store decorators? Well believe it or not, not all of them are illiterate goofballs; some of them are real artists. And a few of these artists are determined to change my mind on the horror of CCCs. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. [eye roll]

However, I will grudgingly admit that this Squidward CCC is darn impressive:

The decorator in question whipped this up for a customer on the spot at the grocery store where s/he works, but asked to remain anonymous. For those of you not up on your Sponge Bob characters, here's a reference shot of Squidward:

Nice, huh? Or at least, it looks like him. ;)


And lastly, Jody H.'s creation - also a Cupcake Cake, and also all buttercream - is flatly astounding:



Wait, wait, wait. A CCC...with airbrushing... and it's NOT a WRECK?!? I think my head may implode: clearly we've entered some kind of parallel universe here.

Oh, and if you don't recognize Jose, the famous "Jalapeno on a Steeck", watch this:
(Note to moms: vid includes mild language.)



Leggrilee said...

my gawd, the evill CCC is conquering the world of CakeWrecks! Noooooo! It's even on the Sunday Sweets! IT'S SCARING ME!

Anonymous said...

Love Jose!!! That person did a great job on him!

weirdmom said...

I love the "Where the Wild Things Are" cake! I was even more excited when I clicked the bakery link and saw that she is located in Austin, TX like me. I'll have to keep her in mind the next time I need a fancy cake. Austin represent!

Anonymous said...

First!
I love that guy on a stick!

Kate Taylor said...

Love the Where the Wild Things Are cake!!!!

toyboxgreatone said...

Hey, I thought you might want to know about a particularly wrecky cake I saw at a wal-mart that shall remain namless.

It was... A RICE KRISPY TREAT CAKE!! I'm not joking. I would have gotten a picture, but the batteries on my digital camera died. I will try to find you a picture soon.

Anonymous said...

I wish I'd gotten amazing cakes like that for my birthday parties as a child!

Love the Jose cake, my friend is having a Jeff Dunham themed birthday and I'd love to suprise him with one!

Anonymous said...

I would wild rumpus the hell out of that first cake. I'm not a huge fondant fan so bring on that mofo

Nicole said...

Awesome cakes! My only confusion belongs with the Jose cake... "Happy 10th Birthday"? On a cake referring to a character on a very adult comedy show? Not something I'd let my 10 year old watch, but the cake itself is freakin' AWESOME! :)

Anonymous said...

The first two are awesome!

The second two? While they aren't wrecks, per se, I don't think they are of Sunday Sweets caliber.

Colleen said...

Oh, I love them!!! I just dug out my old copy of "Where the Wild Things Are" to read to my son and that cake is exactly like the book.

And I'm a huge fan of both Sponge Bob and Jef-f Dun-Ham (DOT COM) so those CCC I would totally buy.

Anonymous said...

Oh i LOVE the Squidward and Jose cakes!! I would have either of those in a heartbeat! How stinkin cute!

Anonymous said...

Jalapeno on a stick. Haha. I'd like to see a CAKE on a stick, is what I'd like to see.

Angie (from over at www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)

Liz said...

Yeay! Go Jose! Love it!

hallie b. said...

Okay, I'll admit that's a pretty awesome rendition of Jose. But let's see someone pull off a non-wreck CCC of Achmed. Ha!

Anonymous said...

They were all awesome!! The wild things cake looks like a buttercream transfer to me.

Jef-f Dun-Ham (Dot Com) ROCKS, and my son squealed when he saw squidward!!

Anonymous said...

My brother saw Jose, and now we're happily watching Jeff Dunham who basically rules my house these days. I want one! XD

And, yes, I'm so glad that there's still people who believe in buttercream! Fondant always reminds me of edible playdough which sort of kills the thought of eating it for me.

~ Peace and Love

~* N *~ said...

The Jalapeno cake looks better than the real puppet.

I love the Abby cake. That is the smoothest bc work I've ever seen!

Kristi said...

I apologize for my ignorance, but what is CCC?

Anonymous said...

Squidward is very impressive, considering. The decorator did a good job. But the Sendak cake! Omg, that rocks. Why wasn't there anyone making those kind of cakes around here, when my boys were little and I reduced to a generic dinosaur cake?

Anonymous said...

Wait...jalapeno on a steeck for a ten year-old? I'm pretty sure Jeff Dunham doesn't even come on until after 11.

Redclix said...

OMG, I LOVE Jose! :)

I want a peanut cake.

Lisa Chin said...

Those are some awesome cakes! I love that you have the beautiful cakes once a week to remind me that there are some wonderful cake artist out there.

Anonymous said...

Oh! It's a place I recognize. :3 The Cake Stand is amaaaazing, makes me kind of glad there's at least one good cake place in McKinney here, heh. (This area is so deeeead to anything but grocery stores, fast food, and retail.)

Buffy said...

Awesome!! Squidward looks unhappy and everything! Now we just need a Peanut cake. :)

Anonymous said...

That Where the Wild Things Are Cake is absolutely awesome. Kudos to the decorator!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but I can't see eating a cake with a green face on it that represents an anthro jalapeno.

WV: prowleck -- Okay, I don't know what it means, but it sounds naughty enough for Jeff Dunham.

Kara said...

Wow I WISH that I could find cakes like that at the grocery store!!

Anonymous said...

couple of ways to get pictures like on the wild things cake... you can trace a picture on some gelatin paper, put the paper on the cake, and trace over the lines. Or you can take a slide of the picture you want, project it onto the cake, and trace the outlines.

Anonymous said...

CCC=CupCake Cake

Ross said...

Jeff Dunham for a 10-year-old? Really?

Unknown said...

Those are very nice!!

I love Jeff Dunham!! LOL

~Amy B.

wv: hismine (does that equal ours?)

MiniKat said...

I love Jose! I wonder which of his other characters will end up as cakes... Sweet Daddy D would be punny though.

It was kinda odd to see the Jose cake for a 10 year old. That's kinda disturbing.

Kat said...

Aaah!! Someone made the Jalapeno on the stick!! And the classic Where the Wild Things Are.....

little.wendy.meows said...

these are sooo amazing!

Emily said...

are we sure those aren't cookies for the characters on that first cake? They look like they might be cookies.

Scritzy said...

"Where the Wild Things Are" — fantastic! Even the facial expressions are right!

And José the Jalapeno CCC is muy bueno! Thanks for the clip. I'd never seen José before, and seeing him reminded me of my childhood days with Senor Wences.

"S'right?"

"S'right!"

(Showing my age here.)

Anonymous said...

I am not fond of fondant cakes either although I can appreciate the time it takes to create them. I do only buttercream cakes myself, and the pink cartoon girl cake is smooth thanks to (I am assuming) VIVA paper towels. They are fantastic to use once the icing has air dried a bit to smooth out the surface if needed.
Those CCC's look good for a change, butI refuse to make them at our bakery. They are a pain in the rear to put together!

BTW, Jeff Dunham ROCKS and my kids love him and all his character puppets!

KidsCakes said...

Love that Abby Cadabby cake! I'm a big fan of brightly colored cakes (when done well)...lol.

Julie from
CakesAndKids.com

evil cake lady said...

I would wild rumpus the hell out of that first cake.

Sitty Living, that was the best comment EVER! I'm totally going to use it.

Anonymous said...

OMG, I want that Squidward CCC now! (mostly because I love the character)

Anonymous said...

I think the Where the Wild Things Are cake involves the use of a couple frozen buttercream transfers. Print out a picture of what you want to create (flipped horizontally, so it's actually a mirror image), place a piece of parchment paper on top, and pipe your buttercream onto it. Freeze, then pop it onto a frosted cake.

If I'm right, though, that's a seriously epic-level transfer!

D: said...

O_O Wow. Maybe the last two aren't really actual CCCs . . . do they still have the wrappers on the bottom?

Mrs. Insanity said...

Those are awesome!!

Tracy said...

Oh my goodness! I just spent the last hour watching Jeff Dunham on YouTube. Love that Jose!

northerngirl said...

these are fantastic- on a steeek!

sj

http://bestiarumvocabulum.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

OMG - Jalapeneo on a STEEEEEEK!!! I love where that reference pops up. You just never know and it always cracks me up.

Anonymous said...

I would call that pepper a fail because Jeff Dunham is so very, very far away from anything resembling a win. Or funny and non-racist, for that matter.

Anonymous said...

O.M.G!!! Sendak, Squidward AND Jose in the same blog? and all rendered soooo well?!?! I luuuurrrvvveee it!

alicia policia said...

Very glad to see butter cream cakes featured again. It takes a little extra skillz to make a kick ass butter cream icing cake, is all I'm sayin'.

Anonymous said...

OMG, The Cake Stand is SO GOOD! Can't believe people think grocery store cakes are high quality *eye roll*. In their defense, a real bakery is hard to find in this super suburban area. SO GLAD T.C.S. is close!!!

Becky said...

Jeff Dunham has amazing talent and is HILARIOUS! I want a jalapeno on a steeeek cake!!!!

Unknown said...

WOW I can't believe I'm a Sunday Sweet!
KariAnn & Karen - you guessed it. They're frozen buttercream transfers (FBCT for short) You can tell for sure because they're BACKWARDS - I forgot to flip the pics before I put them on the cake, then decided I liked the new layout better anyway.
I wanted some extra dimension so I embellished the characters after they were on the cake by adding teeth, claws, hair, and a few other things on top of the finished FBCT.
I really just loved this cake.

BTW Anybody interested in the FBCT technique can find it on cakecentral.com

Anonymous said...

I wonder if I should collect my jaw from the floor before or after commenting.

The "Where the Wild Things Are" has to be the coolest cake, ever. And the CCC's? I don't think I would have recognized that they WERE CCC's unless you pointed that out. Of course, Squidward and Jose are just about the only figures you could make with a CCC.

Anonymous said...

I would venture a guess that the characters on the Wild Things cake are buttercream transfers. Basically they are traced in buttercream (backwards) onto acetate of wax paper and frozen. Then they are flipped onto the cake. If you look carefully they are a bit raised from the surface. Cool trick that was executed perfectly!

Ruby said...

What is a CCC??
I feel I am not in the secret 'knowing what a CCC is' club. D:

Ruby x

Anonymous said...

MrH,

Oddly enough, though I am married to the author of this blog, was an avid cartoon watcher in my youth and consider myself to have above average intelligence, I have not a clue who Squidward is. In addition, it saddens me that a word like "Idiot" which originally meant mentally handicapped, has become a flippant insult for one who lacks understanding. Ah well. You put your name so it got published.

ta,

john

MetalNoir said...

Thanks for going fondant-free again. Fondant is the modeling-clay of the cake-world (and just as edible).

The cupcake cakes illustrate something important: a comfort with the artisitic medium. Squidward seems the perfect subject for such a cake--his shape adapts perfectly to being made of circles. The second cupcake cake reflects a truly accomplished cake artist--recognizing the potentials and limits of what can be done on the edible canvas.

The others are great also.

Anonymous said...

I freaking LOVE all of thees!!! I love Squidward and think that CCC is perfect (the only one so far)!

Unknown said...

Jeff Dunham's no more racist than some of the other so-called comedians out there.

Even Gabriel Iglaseis makes fun of his own heritage. Geez.

~Amy B

Anonymous said...

It's Spongebob. Spongebob. ONE WORD! Spongebob!

Reformed Supermom said...

Mr. Cakewrecks = hottie. I can feel it.

Mr. H = The guy Brad Paisley sings about...

And fwiw, I always thought his name was Squidworth. Go figure.

Anonymous said...

RE: Laura's comment about Jeff Dunham -- he's a COMEDIAN sweetie. You're ulra-hyper-sensitive, and PC to an inappropriate degree. It's a beautifully done cake -- get a grip.

Mommadisco said...

I love that you featured non-fondant stuff. I think it shows madd skills when things come out amazing using frosting.

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing the first cake was done using a frozen buttercream transfer, one of my favorite techniques. It's lovely! (On a steeck!)

Anonymous said...

Alison who made the Wild Rumpus cake - I want you to know that you're my hero. Transfer or no, that is some brilliant stuff.

Anonymous said...

I think Squidward is the perfect shape for a proper looking CCC. Perhaps the only one?

Laura Dotson-Thomson said...

I LOVE Jose, but is it kinda odd that a 10-year-old would have him as a CCC? I mean, they play it on comedy central, but the humor is rather adult sometimes. Oh well, guess I'm outdated. Nice work overall (for a change).

Unknown said...

I Want a jalapeno on a stick cake, NOW!

Unknown said...

I love your blog, but I just have to point out that moms aren't the only ones who might be taking care of kids and want to avoid offensive language.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the "Where the Wild Things Are" cake!

The Squidward CCC? Mediocre at best.

All of you fondant haters, you probably haven't had good fondant. I just had some HORRIBLE buttercream a couple of weeks ago. Any type of icing isn't good or bad 100% of the time.

RFD said...

Thanks for featuring the butter cream cakes. Though fondant is beautiful, there's just something so much more appealing about a cake that looks both pretty and edible.
~Melba

DeeDee said...

Down with the evil Fondant, buttercream rocks!!
Who would really want to eat a sheet of sugar dough, yuck!

DeeDee
http://small-budget.blogspot.com/

Cottagecheap said...

On a STEEEEEEEEEEEK! Oh I LOVE Jeff Dun-Ham! :D

Now i need a cake on a Steek for my next Fiesta!

Big Sky Chef said...

Where else but Cakewrecks can find a jalpepeno on a stick?

Suzanne Dargie said...

The Squidward CCC is the cutest I've ever seen! My kids would LOVE it!
I guess there 's hope for the CupCake Cakes after all.....
I think the Jalapeno thing is ugly no matter how accurate it may be to the original.

MetalNoir said...

I just watched that vid. Although I do believe that many folks are hypersensitive in general, I found it pretty racist and un-funny.

Andi said...

OMG...that Jose cake is the COOLEST!!!!

Melissa (& Billy) said...

Squidward = win. One of the only CCCs that could qualify as a win, maybe? =)

Creativity rocks! =D

Anonymous said...

Too funny, I just watched that clip on TV! It's a cute one! Wonder if it's spicy?

Unknown said...

I'm never happy to see kids that like Jeff Dunham. I worked his concert, and I've never seen such a bunch of racist homophobic yokels in my life.

Anonymous said...

I know I'm late, but SERIOUSLY!?!?!?! Jalepeno on a STEEK?!?!?! Good times!!!

Zombie Edward said...

Wow, Squidworth is impressive. Especially it if was whipped up on the spot. Mad skillz.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Holla! I'm in McKinney! The Cake Stand not only makes gorgeous cakes, but they are DELICIOUS!!!!

Unknown said...

The entire Jose skit is just too stupid for me to even bother being offended. Except for the BMW bit. Thanks, but I don't consider myself "big" at a size 6, Jeff.

It is odd that a 10 y/o would have a ccc with the jalapeno on it though. I can't argue that. Who would encourage their kids to watch this guy? (Even if it's a well done ccc.) It would be like a 10 y/o with a Carlos Mencia cake.

Jaclynn_kyuss said...

I lOVE Jeff Dunham :)

Anonymous said...

I love all these cakes! Even the Spongebob Whoozit CCC is extremely well done.

I lifted my eyebrows when I saw the Jose cake's inscription (not a huge fan of that comedian), but come now, it isn't so weird for a kid. I remember desperately wanting to watch Beavis and Butthead and the Simpsons like all the other kids.

Raquel said...

Is it just me, or does that look like Jay Leno's face on a steeck?

Anonymous said...

oh gawd...

so wrong. so racist...

carla